Stop perverts from posting

April 4, 2013|Sun Sentinel Editorial Board

Since January 2012, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has received as many as 10 complaints from people who've found nude photos of themselves on the Internet, posted by acquaintances without their permission. Some photos were stolen from unattended mobile phones and uploaded to anonymous message boards and porn sites, where they can last for a lifetime.

Sheriff Ric Bradshaw says the victims are mostly high school girls.

And criminally speaking, there is little he and others can do.

You'd think there'd be a law against posting nude photos of someone on the Internet. And there could be if Florida lawmakers pass a bill that would outlaw the posting of nude images, with identifying information, sans the person's permission.

But time is running out during this year's legislative session. So it's important the bill be addressed today by the House Criminal Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, the next stop in its process.

House Bill 787, sponsored by Rep. Tom Goodson, R-Titusville, is supported by law enforcement officers statewide. It was encouraged by Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, who says he hears from about one victim a month, according to Florida Today.

Most recently, it was a 22-year-old woman who discovered nude photos of herself taken when she was 18 — photos meant to remain private. Instead, an ex-boyfriend put them on an X-rated site.

"They let someone take pictures not realizing what can happen, and without a law there isn't much we can do," Broward Sheriff's Sgt. Giuseppe Weller tells us. "We get calls several times a month from victims — teens and adults."

HB 787 would make it a crime to post nude pictures or video clips of someone who hasn't given written permission. Since it's unlikely anyone would grant such permission, creeps who share private photos would have to explain themselves to a judge and maybe spend quality time on a prison cot.

Posting such images — even when obtained consensually — would be a third-degree felony with a jail sentence of up to five years. The crime and punishment increases to a second-degree felony and up to 10 years if the perpetrator is 18 or older and the victim is 16 or younger.

To understand how lawless things now are, Sgt. Weller points to the 2011 arrest of John Field of Coral Springs, who was caught taking videos of girls under 5 as their parents washed sand off their naked bodies at a Deerfield Beach public shower.

Still, his actions were not a crime. Weller said Field was only apprehended after admitting to possessing child pornography.

"The bottom line is the laws have to catch up with where technology is today," says Sheriff Bradshaw of Palm Beach.

Goodson's bill sailed through its first stop, the Criminal Justice Subcommittee, with a 12-0 vote, a good sign. He's hopeful it will make today's agenda for the appropriations subcommittee, its next stop.

But time is precious in these closing weeks of committee hearings and many bills are competing for agenda time.

The Internet, mobile phones and digital photos have changed how we communicate. And for youthful indiscretions, some people will pay a lifetime price.

There ought to be a law that discourages perverts from posting nude photos of people without their permission.